Geology | smithsonianmag.comhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/geology/RSS feed for GeologyenWed, 15 Jul 2026 16:02:29 +0000In a First, Scientists Witness the Seafloor Spread in Real Time, Giving Them a Rare Glimpse at a Mysterious Geologic Processhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/in-a-first-scientists-witness-the-seafloor-spread-in-real-time-giving-them-a-rare-glimpse-at-a-mysterious-geologic-process-180989123/Across a matter of days in 2024, the seafloor in part of the Indian Ocean dropped by about 13 feet, and roughly 5.7 billion cubic feet of molten rock rose to the crust's surface, according to a new studyWed, 15 Jul 2026 16:02:29 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/in-a-first-scientists-witness-the-seafloor-spread-in-real-time-giving-them-a-rare-glimpse-at-a-mysterious-geologic-process-180989123/Could We Mitigate Super El Niños by Artificially Changing the Climate? A New Study Indicates Yeshttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/could-we-mitigate-super-el-ninos-by-artificially-changing-the-climate-a-new-study-indicates-yes-180989101/Researchers used computer models to see what would have happened had scientists caused marine cloud brightening in the face of strong past El NiñosThu, 09 Jul 2026 18:17:32 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/could-we-mitigate-super-el-ninos-by-artificially-changing-the-climate-a-new-study-indicates-yes-180989101/The Arctic Ocean May Have Passed a Crucial Tipping Point That Could Harm Food Webs and Worsen Climate Changehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-arctic-ocean-may-have-passed-a-crucial-tipping-point-that-could-harm-food-webs-and-worsen-climate-change-180989083/Sea ice loss seems to have triggered a decline in the nutrient nitrate, affecting the tiny organisms that form the foundations of marine food chains and absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to a new studyWed, 08 Jul 2026 15:36:06 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-arctic-ocean-may-have-passed-a-crucial-tipping-point-that-could-harm-food-webs-and-worsen-climate-change-180989083/A Fossil From Antarctica Sat in a Drawer for 40 Years. It Turned Out to Be the First Dinosaur Bone Ever Found on the Continenthttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-fossil-from-antarctica-sat-in-a-drawer-for-40-years-it-turned-out-to-be-the-first-dinosaur-bone-ever-found-on-the-continent-180989042/After being forgotten for decades, the mysterious tail vertebra has finally been identified as part of a titanosaur. The discovery helps researchers understand how dinosaurs may have traversed Earth's southernmost regionsMon, 29 Jun 2026 20:40:09 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-fossil-from-antarctica-sat-in-a-drawer-for-40-years-it-turned-out-to-be-the-first-dinosaur-bone-ever-found-on-the-continent-180989042/Scientists Double Down on Age of What Might Be Earth's Oldest Impact Crater, Dating It, Again, at More Than Three Billion Years Oldhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-double-down-on-age-of-earths-oldest-meteorite-impact-crater-dating-it-again-at-more-than-three-billion-years-old-180989023/Last year, geologists dated the crater in Western Australia at 3.47 billion years old, which was disputed by other experts. Now, they've revised the estimate to 3.02 billion years old—but some still aren't convincedMon, 29 Jun 2026 17:16:50 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-double-down-on-age-of-earths-oldest-meteorite-impact-crater-dating-it-again-at-more-than-three-billion-years-old-180989023/Powerful Back-to-Back Earthquakes Killed at Least 188 People in Venezuela. Here's the Science Behind the Rare 'Doublet'https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/powerful-back-to-back-earthquakes-killed-at-least-188-people-in-venezuela-heres-the-science-behind-the-rare-doublet-180989018/On June 24, two quakes above magnitude 7 struck the northern part of the country only 39 seconds apart. While doublet sequences aren't unheard of in seismology, they are uncommon—especially in such short successionThu, 25 Jun 2026 19:10:16 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/powerful-back-to-back-earthquakes-killed-at-least-188-people-in-venezuela-heres-the-science-behind-the-rare-doublet-180989018/Scientists May Have Discovered the Origins of the Euphrates River, Which Helped Nurture Some of the Earliest Known Civilizationshttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-may-have-discovered-the-origins-of-the-euphrates-river-which-helped-nurture-some-of-the-earliest-known-civilizations-180988966/The famous waterway began as two rivers, a new study suggests. Tectonic activity around five million years ago probably made them change course and merge, helping to birth the Fertile CrescentMon, 22 Jun 2026 20:51:25 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-may-have-discovered-the-origins-of-the-euphrates-river-which-helped-nurture-some-of-the-earliest-known-civilizations-180988966/Scientists Uncover New Clues About the Volcanic Origins of the Giant's Causeway, an Iconic Geologic Structure in Northern Irelandhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-uncover-new-clues-about-the-volcanic-origins-of-the-giants-causeway-an-iconic-geologic-structure-in-northern-ireland-180988967/The UNESCO World Heritage Site, which features 40,000 near-perfect hexagonal columns, formed roughly 60 million years ago during a period of intense volcanic activityTue, 16 Jun 2026 21:32:25 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-uncover-new-clues-about-the-volcanic-origins-of-the-giants-causeway-an-iconic-geologic-structure-in-northern-ireland-180988967/A Rare Meteorite Found in the Sahara Desert Offers Evidence of a Lost Protoplanethttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-rare-meteorite-found-in-the-sahara-desert-offers-evidence-of-a-lost-protoplanet-180988932/Chemical signatures indicate the meteorite came from an early planet that met an untimely end during the formation of our solar systemThu, 11 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-rare-meteorite-found-in-the-sahara-desert-offers-evidence-of-a-lost-protoplanet-180988932/How Did Stonehenge Get Its Altar Stone? New Research Adds to the Debate Between Human Effort and Glacier Transporthttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-did-stonehenge-get-its-altar-stone-new-research-reveals-evidence-adding-to-the-debate-between-human-effort-and-glacier-transport-180988918/Ice flow modeling and geological analyses suggest it's possible that glaciers carried the stone part of the way during the last Ice Age. However, scientists say that scenario is unlikelyMon, 08 Jun 2026 22:33:27 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-did-stonehenge-get-its-altar-stone-new-research-reveals-evidence-adding-to-the-debate-between-human-effort-and-glacier-transport-180988918/This Canadian Mine Might Release Enough Natural Hydrogen Each Year to Power 400 Homes, Hinting at an Untapped Source of Clean Energyhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-canadian-mine-might-release-enough-natural-hydrogen-each-year-to-power-400-homes-hinting-at-an-untapped-source-of-clean-energy-180988773/Many of the country's metal mines are embedded in an ancient rock formation that probably also houses a lot of the resource, referred to as "white hydrogen"Thu, 21 May 2026 14:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-canadian-mine-might-release-enough-natural-hydrogen-each-year-to-power-400-homes-hinting-at-an-untapped-source-of-clean-energy-180988773/